TITLE: ⟫ Only the Small Bones

AUTHOR: ⟫ C.P.Harris

SERIES: ⟫ Slow Burns and Tragic Beginnings Book #1

RATING: ⟫ /5

BLURB: ⟫ “What makes him so special?”

“He reminds me of someone I once knew…”

As the founder of Freedom Fighters, famed music composer, William Mayes, is often the first port of call when the FBI needs assistance with human trafficking victims.

After receiving such a call one night, William abandons everything to catch the next flight home. Arriving at Manhattan Memorial, he finds a beautiful young man restrained to a gurney. His eyes are wild with fear, and blood stains his skin. No one has been successful in getting him to speak.

When even he can’t get the young man to cooperate, William does something he may later come to regret—he extends an invite to his home.

The young man is non-verbal, angry, and at times openly hateful. All of which gives him control over William’s emotions.

William slowly begins to spiral from his own struggles with his tormented past. His nightmares return, sleep becomes a lost cause, and the dark voices in his head are out for blood.

Amid their co-dependent isolation, William’s feelings evolve. Lines are blurred, and then crossed altogether as they start down a path riddled with secrets and lies of omission.

The only thing that can set them both free is the truth. But maybe some things are better left buried. Because if the ugliest parts of William are ever unearthed, no one will be spared.

***Only the Small Bones is an MM romance, and book 1 in the standalone series Slow Burns & Tragic Beginnings. This story features an interracial romance, a non-verbal MC, and mental health representation. Cameos from cast members of the Infidelity series is also included. A full list of content warnings is provided on my website.

REVIEW: ⟫ Flipping heck – oh wow! Well, this was a multiple packet of tissues kind of book, and I hadn’t even realised that I was shaking and sobbing until I couldn’t read the pages. Watching Ryan struggling to accept his new reality was so incredibly difficult, as was being able to see how William was hurting himself. And that was in the initial stages – the pain just dug deeper, burned hotter, hit harder the further into the story I got. I’m not even going to pretend that this is going to be coherent because I’ve literally just finished reading the book, my eyes are puffy from crying and my heart is a twisted wreck.

I would say wholeheartedly read the warnings that are provided and if you decide to dive in, pack some comfort snacks, plenty of water and tissues – so many tissues. C.P. Harris ripped my heart out of my chest so many times in this story but it was also incredibly liberating and uplifting. A story about not letting the bad people/bad times win, to keep pushing forward and making connections.

I did warn you this would be almost incoherent – it’s not a typical Christmas story, but it is an incredibly real one, with fallible humans, an unkind world, and the ability of humans to survive damned near anything if they can only find the thing that keeps them sane.